Dear Editor
While we welcome the publication of the NHS Scotland Operational Improvement Plan (1st April 2025), we need greater clarity as to how the government is going to meet its target of no one waiting for over 52 weeks by this time next year.
Orthopaedics – mostly hip and knee surgery – accounts for a third of all NHS waits for treatment in Scotland. The latest figures show 12,000 waits of over a year for orthopaedic surgery. In each of the last two years, this figure has come down by an average of 4 per cent. The government is now promising to make that 100 per cent. This is welcome, but we are wary.
Surgeries such as joint replacements can be transformative, allowing people with arthritis to get back to regular life, while at the same time stopping a decline in their physical and mental health.
The public, including those with arthritis, has lost confidence in how waiting times are being tackled – multiple commitments simply haven’t been met – and unless this latest promise is delivered in full, the only 0 per cent we’ll be looking at is trust in the government.
We fully expect the Scottish Government to keep this promise to the millions of people living with arthritis and musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions in Scotland and will continue to hold them to account regarding this.
Alan McGinley
Policy & Engagement Manager
Versus Arthritis Scotland
199 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, Scotland, G2 3EX
Telephone: 0141 401 0351